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How many entrepreneurs does it take

How many entrepreneurs does it take to change a lightbulb?
by
Ken Esrig

Every entrepreneur knows how hard it is to make a dollar. Holding down expenses is just as important as bring in the revenue. If you are an entrepreneur
then you're well aware of how hard it is each and every day to make sure that you have enough sales to cover all of your expenses. But who and what are you spending your money on?

Over years of being in business I've realized that there is a service contract for just about anything that you want done. The adage that money will buy anything you want is true. But do you really want to spend your money on other people doing services that you yourself can do.

For example, every building has an emergency lighting system. Companies will come in and take time to go through your entire emergency system and make sure that you're in compliance with all the regulations enacted by the state. Ask the Inspector exactly what they're doing. While sometimes they're doing things that are required and must have a Licensed professional many of the items which they charge you for may be surprising to you.

When the inspector comes in and your lights are out in your exit lights do you realize how much they charge you just replace those bulbs? This is why I asked the question, how many entrepreneurs does it take to change a lightbulb? The answer is two or one. If you as the business owner agreed to pay the fire alarm inspection company for the changing of the light bulbs in your exit sign in the answers clearly two entrepreneurs. The entrepreneur who owns the fire inspection company and you the owner of your business.

Call the inspector and understand that all he is charging for is to take a paperclip pop open the plastic sign unscrew a lightbulb put in a
New bulb and recap the plastic into place. For the service you maybe charged $50 as high as $150.

Do not be taken advantage of. Find out each and every aspect of your business expense and see what you the entrepreneur can do without the outside people or paying your own staff. The savings go right to the bottom line and are critical to success of your business.

Other items such as going to bulk warehouse providers such as costco or BJ's can help cut back on your expenses significantly. Who is buying the bathroom tissue and soap for your office? If you are keeping a closer handle on each and every expense you will soon come to understand how to reduce your expenses significantly.

In the past year my office reducd its energy bill by over 50% by being aware of our energy expenses. Some of the actions we took were simple is closing all the computers down prior to a weekend and setting off the monitors each and every night.

Entrepreneurs need to take control of their expenses in order to make sure that they understand it only takes one entrepreneur to change a lightbulb.